Smart BLF help

I have read and tried the wiki docs and everything I can find on the 'net and still can not get the Smart BLF’s working.

FreePBX w/DPMA module
Asterisk 11

I used the DPMA module in FreePBX to initially configure the D70 phone. I did not uninstall that module but I don’t use it any more since it will overwrite any hand edits I do.

By hand I have:

  1. added the blf_items=myblfs.xml line to the res_digium_phones_devices.conf file
  2. created the myblfs.xml file and placed it in the url_file_prefix location

In watching tcpdump and scanning the /var/log/http/access and error log files, I do not see the phone even attempting to go get the myblfs.xml file. From the asterisk cli doing a “digium_phones show phone 20” command shows the “Blf Items: None” line.

How do I get the phone to go look for the file? If I had placed it in the wrong location I should see and error in the /var/log/httpd/error_log file saying file does not exist or something.

If you didn’t uninstall the Digium Phones Addon for FreePBX, then every time you press the red button in FreePBX, whatever you put in res_digium_phones_devices.conf is going to be overwritten.

I have not uninstalled that module yet, but I don’t use it any more either. If I click the Red button for some other module like Queue or music on hold or whatever, does it still overwrite the files?

Either way, during my testing time I have not pressed the button. My mod’s are still there each time I use vim to open and edit the file.

[quote=“gsmackay”]If I click the Red button for some other module like Queue or music on hold or whatever, does it still overwrite the files?
[/quote]
Yes.

Editing the files doesn’t affect any change as far as the res_digium_phone.so module is concerned. Once you make a change to a config file, e.g. res_digium_phone_devices.conf, res_digium_phone.so doesn’t know about that change unless it’s been reloaded, i.e. “module reload res_digium_phone.so” from the Asterisk CLI.

Well, shucks! I have wasted days of hours editing the .conf files and not able to get anything to work. So, all that time was completely wasted since I didn’t do a module reload res_digium… each time? Good grief… I would change a file and reboot the phone over and over for days…

OK, now that I am testing properly, I am making small progress.

digium_phones show phone 20 now shows that the blf_items: myblfs.xml is indeed there. Checking the /var/log/httpd/access_log file I see the phone pull the xml file.

However, the phone does not follow what the xml has in it. On the D70 I want a blank for button 1 and then the next four to have stuff on them as well as the side buttons. In addition to the buttons not showing up where the myblfs.xml file says to, the buttons do not act as the file instructions. They act as normal blf buttons. None of the actions, indicators or behaviors are there.

What is my next step in debugging? Is there a web page in the phone to “see” what each button has in it?

[quote]
What is my next step in debugging? Is there a web page in the phone to “see” what each button has in it?[/quote]

Nope, there’s no webpage for that.

I’d start with something small first, and make it work, before trying to build something complex. Doing that will help you to better understand the interplay between contacts and blf items.

There are a number of examples here:

wiki.asterisk.org/wiki/display/ … F-UseCases

Making progress. I now have the phone reading the smartblf.xml file and placing the buttons where I want them on the side panel. However none of the stock BLF functions work any more. When you press a button, it dials that extension but that’s it. It does not light up when that extension is ringing or on the phone.

  1. When using smartblf does ALL stock functions go out the window and you have to manually put them back into the .xml file?

  2. If the answer to 1 is yes, then can I put one section of and stuff at the top of the .xml file and have it apply to all buttons? or do I have to copy those 10 or 20 lines over and over and over and over again into each <blf_item> section for each button?

[quote=“gsmackay”]

  1. When using smartblf does ALL stock functions go out the window and you have to manually put them back into the .xml file?

  2. If the answer to 1 is yes, then can I put one section of and stuff at the top of the .xml file and have it apply to all buttons? or do I have to copy those 10 or 20 lines over and over and over and over again into each <blf_item> section for each button?[/quote]

  3. Correct. You’ve gotta add the functionality you want.

  4. Negative, the behavior for each key needs to be defined.